Take-Two Interactive president Karl Slatoff has spoken disparagingly about the recent removal of GTA V from notable Australian retailers such as Target and Kmart, stating that it "flies in the face of everything that free society's based on". The game came under fire after a petition that garnered over 48,000 signatures claimed that GTA V "encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women".
He contended that it is the consumer's prerogative whether or not to buy GTA V, but feels that it is wrong for a group of people to try and make that decision for others.
"It's one thing for a person to not want to buy a piece of content, which is completely understandable. And that's really the solution. If you don't like it, if it's offensive to you, then you don't buy it," Karl Slatoff said at the BMO Capital Markets Technology and Digital Media Conference, as previously reported by GameSpot. "But for a person or a group of people to try to make that decision for millions of people... We have 34 million people who have bought Grand Theft Auto V. If these folks had their way, none of those people would be able to buy Grand Theft Auto."
He wanted to stress that the financial losses are trivial at best, but the freedom of expression is what's important, and feels that it is a very dangerous road to go down.
"It's the freedom of expression, and to try to quelch that is a very dangerous and slippery slope to go down. Our business is going to be completely unaffected by this. It doesn't make a difference to us. At the end of the day, though, it's not something that you want because it's just a poor leadership decision."
There's plenty of other quotes on the GameSpot article which share the same sentiment. I'd say he's completely right, but what do you think? Is this a trend that we may see more of? Is it even a huge deal at all? Let me know because I'd like to see where the TechRaptor community stands on this issue, especially my fellow Australians.
